How to build the 3D-graphic in VB .NET?

[Dr. Zharkov]

Hello. Inform, please, on what site it is possible to find materials on
construction of the three-dimensional graphic of function z=f(x,y) with the
help of Visual Basic .NET and GDI+?

Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Robin Tucker]

Dr Zharkov,

3D graphics is a large and complex subject. There are any number of ways to
perform what you ask - using GDI, Win32, DirectX, OpenGL (you see my point).
You need to read about matrix math and vector math because, unless you use
DirectX or OpenGL, GDI+ will only see what you throw at it in terms of x,
y - GDI is a 2D rendering library. But ultimately, all 3D graphics
libraries transform down to 2D after projection.

My recommendation is to using DirectX 9, which gives you a set of classes
and methods to help out with common 3D graphics operations. Of course, this
will require a lot of reading :p

"Dr. Zharkov" <va************ @mtu-net.ru> wrote in message
news:Ou******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP10.phx.gbl...

Hello. Inform, please, on what site it is possible to find materials on
construction of the three-dimensional graphic of function z=f(x,y) with the help of Visual Basic .NET and GDI+?

Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Fergus Cooney]

Hi Robin,

Lol. I think Dr. Zharkov might know a little bit about maths! ;-))

Regards,
Fergus

[Robin Tucker]

I have no idea who Dr Zharkov is, only that the question perhaps required a
somewhat patronising answer! I haven't tried using D3D in .NET yet - but
either way, if one knows about mathematics, it won't be too difficult to
pick up the basics of 3D projection and transformation.

"Fergus Cooney" <fi******@tesco .net> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..

Hi Robin,

Lol. I think Dr. Zharkov might know a little bit about maths! ;-))

Regards,
Fergus

[Dr. Zharkov]

Mr. Robin Tucker.
1. Thanks for your answer and recommendation.
2. On a site http://codeguru.earthweb.com/opengl/OG.html there is article
"Function graphics in 3D"of the Russian scientist Alexander Chernosvitov
about construction of the three-dimensional diagrams of functions with the
help of Visual C++ 6.0 and OpenGL. Mister Chernosvitov has issued in Russia
the book about construction of the three-dimensional diagrams of functions
with the help of Visual C++ .NET and OpenGL. In Russia and other countries
are issued the books with the theory and programs about construction on
building the 3D-graphics of functions with the help of Visual C++ 6.0 and
GDI.
3. Inform, please, to me about articles and books on building the 3D-graphic
of function z=f(x,y) with the help of Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# .NET or
Visual C++ .NET and GDI+.
Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Robin Tucker]

Ok, you won't find a book on using GDI+ to perform 3D graphics. It just
isn't done that way. There are lots of books available on using DirectX.

There are many examples, here:

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Directx.asp

You can post questions/get answers from the forums here:

www.flipcode.com

www.gamedev.net

and of course, if you want to proceed with DirectX and C#, you will using
Managed DirectX. There are tutorials here for this:
http://staff.develop.com/candera/web...egraphics.html.
Basically, you are using Interop services to utilize the D3D COM interfaces.

If you are new to 3D graphics, the 3d graphics bible is of course
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...30557?v=glance,
by foley and van-dam. Perhaps not such a practical book, but provides
familiarity with all aspects of CG in use today.

There are many, many tutorials on the internet related to 3D graphics and I
have to admit I have found them to be more useful than most books. A google
search for "D3D C#" or "DirectX C#" will return many results.

Now finally, if you want to perform 3D graphics with GDI+, which is itself a
2D API, you need to write your own transformation methods. This will
involve the creation of a 3x3 or 4x4 matrix class, a vector/vertex class
and, well, basically, don't bother - you don't need to do this if you use
D3D.

The only thing I might ask is whether you already have knowledge of 3D
Computer Graphics. If not, some of the concepts involved in using D3D will
be difficult for a beginner. If you do, then I guess all you need to know
is how the interop works with D3D Com. Its fairly basic stuff.

I hope this is helpful.
"Dr. Zharkov" <va************ @mtu-net.ru> wrote in message
news:O3******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP11.phx.gbl...

Mr. Robin Tucker.
1. Thanks for your answer and recommendation.
2. On a site http://codeguru.earthweb.com/opengl/OG.html there is article
"Function graphics in 3D"of the Russian scientist Alexander Chernosvitov
about construction of the three-dimensional diagrams of functions with the
help of Visual C++ 6.0 and OpenGL. Mister Chernosvitov has issued in Russia the book about construction of the three-dimensional diagrams of functions
with the help of Visual C++ .NET and OpenGL. In Russia and other countries
are issued the books with the theory and programs about construction on
building the 3D-graphics of functions with the help of Visual C++ 6.0 and
GDI.
3. Inform, please, to me about articles and books on building the 3D-graphic of function z=f(x,y) with the help of Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# .NET or
Visual C++ .NET and GDI+.
Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Robin Tucker]

Oh, and I forgot to add the newsgroup for managed directx:

microsoft.publi c.win32.program mer.directx.man aged
"Dr. Zharkov" <va************ @mtu-net.ru> wrote in message
news:O3******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP11.phx.gbl...

Mr. Robin Tucker.
1. Thanks for your answer and recommendation.
2. On a site http://codeguru.earthweb.com/opengl/OG.html there is article
"Function graphics in 3D"of the Russian scientist Alexander Chernosvitov
about construction of the three-dimensional diagrams of functions with the
help of Visual C++ 6.0 and OpenGL. Mister Chernosvitov has issued in Russia the book about construction of the three-dimensional diagrams of functions
with the help of Visual C++ .NET and OpenGL. In Russia and other countries
are issued the books with the theory and programs about construction on
building the 3D-graphics of functions with the help of Visual C++ 6.0 and
GDI.
3. Inform, please, to me about articles and books on building the 3D-graphic of function z=f(x,y) with the help of Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# .NET or
Visual C++ .NET and GDI+.
Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Dr. Zharkov]

Mr. Robin Tucker.
1. Thanks for a plenty of the references, but these references do not give
the answer to a question of the given theme: How to build the 3D-graphic in
VB .NET?
2. For building the 3D - graphics, I want to use only GDI+ and Visual Studio
..NET 2003 (without use DirectX).
3. In "amazon" are sold the two books on GDI+:
Symmonds N. GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET". APress, 2002. - 576 p.
Aitken P.G. .NET Graphics and Printing: A Comprehensive Tutorial and
Reference for Developers. Optimax Pub, 2003. - 576 p.
Both these publishing houses on the sites do not give the information on,
whether there is in these books a program for building the 3D - graphics.
If you have such information, whether inform, please, there is in these
books a program for building the 3D - graphics?

4. Inform, please, to me about articles and books with program for building
the 3D-graphics of function z=f(x,y) with the help of Visual Basic .NET,
Visual C# .NET or Visual C++ .NET and GDI+ (without use DirectX).

Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Robin Tucker]

Ok Doc,

Heres the low down. What you are looking for is a "Software" rendering
engine. So you are looking for a general book on 3D computer graphics.
Here are a few things you might like to read-up on:

Vector Math
Matrix Math
Frustum Clipping
Backface Culling
Z Buffer
BSP Trees
Texture Mapping
Clip Planes

Dave Eberly is something of an expert on this. He posts on
comp.graphics.a lgorithms quite frequently, has written a few books and
releases his source code free of charge (its all C++).

http://www.magic-software.com/Books.html

What you are looking for is basic principles, from which you can of course
implement with whatever platform you desire - .NET or not. The only GDI+
functions you will use are drawing methods (clear window, draw line, draw
polygon/triangle). The rest you will have to implement yourself (matrix
transforms, perspective correction, frustum clipping, model representation) .

So for example, with VB.NET, you will create a vector class:

public class Vector

public x, y, z As Double

' Some methods to operate on vectors

public function DotProduct ( Another As Vector ) as Double
return ( x * Vector.x + y * Vector.y + z * Vector.z )
end sub

public sub Normalize ()
Dim Length As Double = sqrt ( x * x + y* y + z * z )

if Length <> 0 then
x /= Length
y /= Length
z / = Length
end if
end sub

end class
As I say, you are looking for first principles - if you wish to use GDI+,
you will have to implement these yourself. You won't be able to perform
real-time texture mapping or z-buffering with GDI+, although you could
implement it yourself in software (it will be VERY slow however and you will
need to implement your own triangle scan convertor! This is a big job). A
few enthusiasts spend time writing and optimising their own software
rendering engines with advanced features (some of them are actually very
good), but 99.999% of people use either DirectX or OpenGL for real time
rendering. Of course, if you are talking about Ray Tracing, software
rendering is the way to go at present, but thats a different story
altogether!

"Dr. Zharkov" <va************ @mtu-net.ru> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..

Mr. Robin Tucker.
1. Thanks for a plenty of the references, but these references do not give
the answer to a question of the given theme: How to build the 3D-graphic in VB .NET?
2. For building the 3D - graphics, I want to use only GDI+ and Visual Studio .NET 2003 (without use DirectX).
3. In "amazon" are sold the two books on GDI+:
Symmonds N. GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET". APress, 2002. - 576 p.
Aitken P.G. .NET Graphics and Printing: A Comprehensive Tutorial and
Reference for Developers. Optimax Pub, 2003. - 576 p.
Both these publishing houses on the sites do not give the information on,
whether there is in these books a program for building the 3D - graphics.
If you have such information, whether inform, please, there is in these
books a program for building the 3D - graphics?

4. Inform, please, to me about articles and books with program for building the 3D-graphics of function z=f(x,y) with the help of Visual Basic .NET,
Visual C# .NET or Visual C++ .NET and GDI+ (without use DirectX).

Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.

[Dr. Zharkov]

Mr. Robin Tucker.
1. Many thanks for your very valuable advice.
2. On a site http://www.magic-software.com/Books.html I have looked the
book, recommended you: Schneider P.J. and Eberly D.H. Geometric Tools for
Computer Graphics. Morgan Kaufmann, 2002. - 1056 p.
In this book are given the small slices of the program on a pseudo-code, and
the program of construction of 3D - graphics is absent.
3. In the previous answer you have written: "A few enthusiasts spend time
writing and optimizing their own software rendering engines with advanced
features (some of them are actually very good):"

How to find the programs of these enthusiasts on building the 3D - graphics
of function z=f (x, y) and only for Visual Studio .NET (without use DirectX,
OpenGL, MathCAD, MatLab, Maple and similar packages)?

Beforehand many thanks for your answer. Best regards, Dr. V.A. Zharkov.
Moscow, Russia.